The Home Rule: Addressing Gun Violence in the Community
First, if you have expressed your grief about the shooting in Orlando and about the roughly 27 people shot dead every day of the year, please also post the contact information of your Congressional representative so your social circles can contact them and turn healing thoughts and prayers into preventive action.
Find your Representative: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Find your state legislator: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp
This week, I attended a multi-faith candlelight vigil at a local church following, once again, a horrific mass shooting of innocent individuals. This vigil was organized by the Reformed Church of Highland Park, a congregation with a strong legacy of promoting civil rights, social justice and peace action.
As individuals expressed their agony, helplessness and grief, they also expressed a need to act.
We all demand action. And we won’t wait. Why should we? There is one common thread in gun violence — it’s not one’s upbringing, it’s not bigotry, it’s not one’s state of mental health, and it’s certainly not one’s religion.
It’s the gun.
From the New York Times:
“In the United States, the death rate from gun homicides is about 31 per million people — the equivalent of 27 people shot dead every day of the year. The homicides include losses from mass shootings, like Sunday’s Orlando attack, or the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting last December. And of course, they also include the country’s vastly more common single-victim killings.”
So if it’s the gun at the center of the madness, why don’t we just start with the gun? Gun violence, to be sure, is multi-dimensional and complex. It’s the result of layers and layers of societal and institutional influences and pressures.
But it’s also the result of access.
Locally, we’ve considered a number of options. In addition to launching a regular discussion on gun access our Board of Health, recognizing that gun violence is a matter of public health, passed a resolution in 2015 that called to prohibit “the sale or transfer of any .50 caliber firearm or .50 caliber cartridge.” This move followed the Borough Council passing a similar resolution, urging the state legislature to do the same.
The Democratically-controlled legislature followed suit, passing a bill that would have prohibited the Barrett .50 caliber long-range rifle, but Gov. Chris Christie, once a supporter of such a prohibition, vetoed it, pandering to the NRA and angling for the presidency.
There’s still hope for local gun prohibitions. In December, the Supreme Court refused to hear a Second Amendment challenge to a another Highland Park ordinance — this time Highland Park, Ill. — that banned semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
“The decision not to hear the case has no precedential force, but was nonetheless part of a series of signals from the Supreme Court giving at least tacit approval to even quite strict gun control laws in states and localities that choose to enact them.”
Taking action on this matter is urgent, but all we have is time. The key is to keep this issue front and center so it doesn’t wane until the next tragedy that gains national attention, in addition to the aforementioned 27 people shot dead daily.
Organize in your community. Become part of national gun violence prevention organizations like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, Newtown Action Alliance and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
And, please, call your legislator and demand action.
